The North Western Health Board has confirmed 12 cases of the Winter Vomiting Bug in Sligo General Hospital. The hospital is awaiting lab results to ascertain whether a further eight patients have fallen victim.
Elective surgery has been cancelled until tomorrow at the earliest and hospital authorities have appealed to the public not to attend if they have experienced diarrorhea and vomiting over the last 72 hours.
The virus is a "self-limiting" bug which cannot be treated and must wear itself out and healthy people can overcome the symptoms within 48 hours.
An outbreak of the virus affected almost 2,000 patients throughout the Republic in 2002 and some 34 cases were confirmed in the Leinster area in January of 2003.
Hospitals provide an ideal situation for virus particles to spread and measures such as the restriction of visits and the shutting down of wards are only preventative.
